If Sir Alex Ferguson keeps to his word, United will continue to stick with a blend of youngsters and fringe players in this competition, and this could be where the champions come unstuck if City maintain their policy of fielding a full strength side in the Carling Cup.

And why wouldn't they, the Carling Cup is arguably their best chance of silverware this term, and a trophy in the cabinet would be seen as progress for Roberto Mancini's side. City failed their first big test under Mancini by losing at a resurgent Everton on Saturday, but that result should serve as a wake-up call, and it might also signal the end of Robinho's time at Eastlands. The moody Brazilian came on as a 9th minute substute for Santa Cruz, but having contributed next to nothing, was himself substituted in the second half.

One player that will be hell-bent on a big City performance in this fixture is former United man Carlos Tevez who is in sparkling form at present, scoring nine goals in City's last seven league games and picking up the pllayer of the month award for December. It wouldn't be any great surprise were the Argentinian striker play a big part in knocking his old club out of this competition.

United were made to work hard for their 3-0 win over Burnley on Saturday, but thet created a bucket load of chances and on another day got have scored six or seven. The major plus from that game was the performance of Dimitar Berbatov, who was a class apart from everyone else on the pitch and was fully deserving of his 64th minute strike. The Bulgarian, who went off with a knee injury and could be a doubt for this game, was the only recognised first team midfielder/attacker to start in the 2-0 quarter-final defeat of Tottenham at Old Trafford and Ferguson will surely need either him or Rooney on the field if United are going to get anything from this game.

United's team in the quarter-final read Kuszczak, Neville, Brown, Vidic, de Laet, Park, Gibson, Anderson, Obertan, Welbeck, Berbatov. Although that line-up proved good enough enough to beat a strong looking Spur side (thanks to two brilliant goals from Darron Gibson) that night, this is a much stiffer ask and bookmakers clearly think so too, with United available to back at a best price of 2-1. At that price United probably aren't bad value, but even if Ferguson opted to throw in a few of the more senior players, this looks sure to be a difficult evening for the visitors.

The atmosphere at Eastlands wil be electric and City will be bang up for this, so the the best price of 11-7 about them taking a lead back to Old Trafford for the second leg looks a decent enough bet, while Carlos Tevez is the man to be on in the anytime goalscorer market at 21-10 (as short as 11-8 in places).

Recommended Bets:

Manchester City (11-7)

Carlos Tevez to score at any time (21-10)